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Hukuri City-states
The Hukuri city-states are a series of independent city states along the western coast of Hamaji. They speak the Hukuri language and are known for their extensive trading. They typically trade furs, slaves, animals, spices, ivory and cotton. They share a currency and often ally with each other, when not warring with each other. Solad Solad is the northernmost of the city-states, and shares a border with Hamaji. They were once part of the Tifaran Empire, as one of the empire's most important cities. When the rest of the nation fell to Hamaji, Solad's strong walls allowed it to survive. Today it trades glass from its famed glassmakers, having developed the technology independent of the Merem inventors in Ortus. Khara Khara is located just south of Solad, and is famed for its slaves. It is located in the prime position to interfere with traders from the other city-states. Using its position, it takes tribute from passing ships in return for their safety. For this purpose, and for its own safety, it has developed the strongest military of all the city-states and is often the target of alliances. Its slave class are bred for war and sold all over the continent, but their sale to other city-states is outlawed. Ghenar Ghenar is among smallest of the city-states, and a frequent target of raids from Khara. It is a famed religious site, being the apparent homeland of Shemi's ancestors. It has become relatively wealthy from the resultant pilgrimages, but also through its willingness to accept the authority of other states. Despite the raids from Khara, it has experienced the least damage from war of all the city-states. Barash Barash is the only inland city-state. From its location closer to the grasslands of the interior of the continent, it gains better access to the valuable wildlife. Live animals are sold to the wealthy across Hamaji and even into Araz, as well as furs and ivory. Its inland position spares it from most of the naval aggression of the other city-states, but it engages in frequent battles with native tribes over the area's natural resources. It has access to the continent's widest river, which it uses to transport goods. Kevar Kevar is known for its ceramics and its architecture. A former trading post of the Tifaran Empire, it maintains extremely good relations with Solad. Its skilled potters have gained the attention of nobility from all over the continent, who sent their craftsmen to study there. This disproportionate number of educated people and craftsmen have led to the city's reputation as a centre of learning. It is now the site of many prestigious universities. Sukuma Sukuma is an island city state famed for its timber. While on the mainland, native forests of the Bleeding Trees and its valuable sap have been mostly replaced by grassland, there remain carefully monitored forests on the island of Sukuma. The wood of the tree is valued for its deep red colour and hardness, and its sap has hallucinogenic and aphrodisiacal properties. It maintains a strong navy of nigh-unsinkable ships build out of this wood. Ubandi Ubandi covers several small islands, and is the wealthiest of the city-states. Its native deposits of clove and valued seaweeds have made the islands extremely wealthy for thousands of years. Over the years, it has gathered seeds, transported soils and perfected preparation techniques for most of the world's other spices. It is the international capital of the spice trade, famed from Hamaji to Daolin and Eradina. It has also begun to develop a wine trade, despite the regions unsuitability for most grapes. One very rare variety of grape has been successfully cultivated, which produces a black-coloured wine that is bitter in taste, but nonetheless incredibly valuable. It has died out in Insios where it originated, and exists nowhere else, so Ubandi controls the global supply. The long-established spices are grown on the islands around the city, but due to lack of space newer and more experimental ones are grown within the city borders. Castles and merchant houses are equipped with flat roofs and balconies filled with the correct soils, where they are grown. There are no open parks and gardens in which spices are not growing. The city's rooftop gardens make the city among the most beautiful in the world. The royal gardens are the epitome of Ubandi's beauty. The palace is a tiered structure with elegant columns in the place of exterior walls, giving in an open and airy feel. On the roofs of the palace grow the widest variety of plants in the world. The terraced gardens spill down the palace like water, bathing it in the plants' natural beaity They are composed of the most valuable plants in the world, collected over the course of centuries. They bear the finest fruits, flowers and spices the world can offer. It is watered from the city's main canal using water screw technology, allowing the deep soils to stay properly moist. An attempt was made by the Heavenly King of Hamaji to reproduce this so-called 'Paradise of the South', but it does not achieve the original's beauty.